The engineering of T-cells using microfluidics for cellular therapies

使用微流体技术进行 T 细胞工程用于细胞治疗

• 批准号: 539270-2019
• 负责人: Shih, Steve
• 金额: $ 2.54万
• 依托单位: Concordia University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=699555
• 关键词: engineering; cells; using; microfluidics; cellular

Preliminary clinical trials harnessing the immune system of cancer patients to combat disease have shown to have impressive efficacy. Immune cells isolated from a patient are genetically altered to allow for improved detection of cancerous cells and subsequently re-introduced into the patient. Yet despite its promise, rapid and cost effective manufacturing of this therapy remains a barrier to widespread adoption. The goal of this project is to develop lab-on-chip platforms to rapidly engineer and to manufacture immune cells that can be potentially used for cellular therapies. Specifically, the manufacturing process of immune cells will involve three steps - engineering, enrichment, and analysis. The overall microfluidic system for manufacturing is compact and portable and therefore can be brought to hospitals, clinics, or research laboratories where it will help streamline the process of engineering immune cells. To achieve this objective, the Shih lab (Concordia) is closely collaborating with Dr. McComb (University of Ottawa) along with the industrial partner DropGenie. DropGenie is a Montreal-based company accelerating the promise of genetic engineering. They would like to develop a lab-on-a-chip approach in which several laboratory operations have been integrated onto a single handheld device, thus allowing for automated liquid handling and optimization of experimental conditions specific to the genetic engineering of immune cells. Streamlining the process will reduce costs and improve accessibility of the therapy for cancer patients while automation will improve standardization and reproducibility of engineering immune cells for cellular therapies in Canada.

利用癌症患者的免疫系统来对抗疾病的初步临床试验已显示出令人印象深刻的疗效。 从患者分离的免疫细胞被遗传改变以允许改善癌细胞的检测，并随后被重新引入患者。然而，尽管它的承诺，快速和成本效益的制造这种疗法仍然是一个障碍，以广泛采用。 该项目的目标是开发芯片实验室平台，以快速设计和制造可用于细胞疗法的免疫细胞。 具体来说，免疫细胞的制造过程将涉及三个步骤-工程，富集和分析。用于制造的整体微流体系统紧凑便携，因此可以带到医院，诊所或研究实验室，在那里它将有助于简化免疫细胞的工程化过程。 为了实现这一目标，Shih实验室（Concordia）与麦科姆博士（渥太华大学）沿着与工业合作伙伴DropGenie密切合作。 DropGenie是一家总部位于纽约的公司，致力于加速基因工程的发展。 他们希望开发一种芯片实验室方法，其中几个实验室操作已集成到单个手持设备上，从而允许自动化液体处理和免疫细胞基因工程特定实验条件的优化。简化这一过程将降低成本，提高癌症患者治疗的可及性，而自动化将提高加拿大细胞治疗工程免疫细胞的标准化和可重复性。